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PsychApplicantFall2019

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Posts posted by PsychApplicantFall2019

  1. 22 hours ago, Psygeek said:

    I went through this last year - how is everyone doing? 

    Feeling quite overwhelmed. My lab is currently demanding a ton of time. I feel like I need the NSF GRFP submitted before I can think about the school SOPs. Further, one PI I talked to recommended applying for the Hertz Fellowship which is ridiculously competitive and likely a waste of my time, but I feel obligated. On the actual applications, I have a  final school list, registered the accounts, sent out the recommendation requests, the GRE reports and transcripts are squared away. All of that is mostly because I already had everything together for the grants. I am probably not going to make serious progress on the SOPs for about a month. First app due is Stanford in mid-November. 

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  2. 5 hours ago, Romedy said:

    This will be my 3rd (and final) round of applications. I applied out of undergrad in 2015 and received 0 interviews. I got a master's degree with a clinical emphasis and reapplied last year (2018). This time I received several interviews (7!) but did not receive an offer. I'm a non-traditional student (BS in math 2005, BA in psych 2015, MA in psych 2018) and will be 36 this November. Hence why this is likely to be my final application year. My long-term goals are to work in academia, so I am pursuing a clinical Ph.D.

    I think the major problem with my application is I have broad research interests but lack a clearly-defined research program. This is actually false, as I would like to better understand the incidence rate of psychopathology in the gaming community, particularly in professional gamers, and work to develop/validate interventions aimed at the adolescent/young adult populations likely to engage in gaming culture. As best I can tell, there are 2 researchers (1 in ANZ, 1 in the UK) who conduct this type of research. To the best of my knowledge, no one in the U.S. currently works on these topics. I have had some success reaching out to individuals like Steve Il,ardi at Kansas, but these sites are highly competitive and I am dubious that I can gain admission to a top-25 program.

    I would greatly value any advice/help/feedback you can offer. I'm not quite ready to give up on this lifelong dream, but financial, family, and age restrictions have placed a timer on me. Thank you in advance!

    Here is my suggestion and others may disagree. I think that you might be looking for people who are too specifically aligned with your interests. The way I think about the purpose of a PhD is to develop the scientific skills necessary to conduct research not necessarily to have a particular research program defined when you enter. (This may not hold for senior, highly renowned PIs who would expect you to have a research program, but I am speaking generally).

    As such, the PI does not need to have a research program that is working on your particular question in order for there to be a good research fit. And, you need to be able to mold your research interests to a PI's particular flavor of research. I am just spit-balling because I don't have a strong relevant background, but perhaps, someone working on gambling addiction or obsessive behaviors would provide you with the training that you need to pursue your particular interests later in your postdoc or as a faculty.

    In summary: Broaden your search. Identify where your interests match the PIs. Mold the way you present your interests to match their interests. 

  3. My work uses a lot of computational methods as well, and I think that your experience will be a great fit for many groups. I do think many PIs have the expectation that you have some experience with MATLAB/Python/R/Unix, and it sounds like you would fit that very well. There is a chance that particular groups may typically take students with a very strong CS or applied math background, but you should be able to find that out by looking at the lab website or talking to the PI. 

  4. 13 hours ago, Psygeek said:

    I never re-emailed people. I did apply however to schools I got no reply from the potential POI - which turned out to work fine because my nr. 1 POI did not reply initially, turned out way better than I expected during the interview, and now during my PhD POI has been more than great so far.

    Thanks for this great advice because you have been there! I have PIs who didn't respond, and I was still planning to apply anyway. Glad to hear that it doesn't always turn out poorly. 

  5. 15 hours ago, loffire said:

    Also, I got a reply where the POI was interested, but she also recommended that I look at a number of others from other schools to see if i'd be happier there. " I'm not trying to get rid of you, but I want you to be placed in the idea environment for you". Which is suuuuuper nice of her but how do I address that especially since the people she recommended are also people I've reached out to already? ????

    This is only of the PIs that I have talked to, so take my experience with a grain of salt. I had a couple of PIs ask who else I was applying to, and one of them explicitly told me that he was asking because he wanted to ensure that I was knowledgable enough of the field that my PI list made sense. He suggested someone that was highly relevant but was not on my list, and I explained why I wasn't applying there. 

    I had one other PI ask because she was genuinely encouraging me to apply to other people because there was not a high likelihood that she would accept me (although overall our research interests were aligned she was looking for someone with a particular background that isn't common in our field). 

    Your response sounds more like the later, and I think you could courteously say that you have reached out to those PIs as well. It seems to me that she is suggesting that you have a great application, but there might not be a terrific fit. 

    Best of luck! 

  6. On 9/1/2018 at 11:05 AM, jake1321 said:

    Thank you. I am on the fence, I have taken the GRE 3 times and each time I have improved. This time my quant dropped 3 points and verbal increased 7. I guess you can say my GPA follows the cliche "live by semester to semester college athlete" and then my last 2.5 years kick it into gear. 

    I have been following your advice to others and realize how subject the whole process can be. Are they top 30+ school scores...no. I was hoping they might pass the initial screening at other schools because I will have a strong SOP, LORs and CV.....WHAT A TOUGH DECISION!!!!

    I'm a bit late to the game, but I wanted to throw in a piece of advice. Your application is stellar in so many other ways that if you were to increase your GRE score, then I really think that you would have a decent shot at getting into a top program. If that is something that you would like to do, I would recommend giving the GRE another go. 

  7. 17 minutes ago, ResilientDreams said:

    Also, the piece of advice I would give to you regarding your school list is this. There really is no such thing as a safety PhD program. It all comes down to research fit and a good dose of luck. That being said, you have to separate in your mind these institutions' reputation for undergrad admission vs. their reputation for graduate admission. Applying to graduate school is completely different, and if a PI really likes you and sees promise in you, that may very well get you through the door. It's still a crap shoot, but unlike undergrad, at least it's a crap shoot that makes sense.

    I really appreciate your feedback, and it makes me feel more confident. I talk to a lot of people applying to med school sending out 30 applications. It makes me nervous that I have not diversified enough. 

  8. 3 minutes ago, ResilientDreams said:

    That was such a good idea. Too late for me lol. At least they seemed interested in their email responses.

    I am sure that you will be very successful in your applications! I am not saying positive response means that you will for sure be admitted, but there can be lack luster responses, or they can say that their group is full, so a positive response doesn't mean nothing. 

    I would like to add that I have contacted PIs who told me their labs were full, and there are a couple that I am planning on applying to who have not responded. 

  9. 9 minutes ago, ResilientDreams said:

    Wow, did they all offer to Skype you or did you ask some of them to set up a meeting? I was happy about being offered one Skype interview lol.

    It has been a mix of Skype and in-person. I sent out the feeler emails before a conference and arranged a time to meet there, and I have had a few Skype conversations. Maybe it is a bit bold, but in the emails I say something along the lines of "If you think that our interests are a good match, I would like to know about your research directions by Skype, or I will be attending xxx conference." 

  10. Hi all, 

    I have been following this thread for a while, but I am finally posting. 

    I graduated from a state school in 2017, and I have been doing research full time since then. 

    Programs of Interest: Cognitive neuroscience (depends on the school whether this is actually in a psychology department)

    Research Interests: high-level vision

    School List: Johns Hopkins; Carnegie Mellon; University of Nevada, Reno; University of California, San Diego; University of California, Berkeley; Stanford; Harvard; MIT; Emory

    Background: BA in neuroscience from a state university

    Things I'm Not Worried About: 

    Good enough GPA and GRE

    Strong letters of Recommendation

    Strong research experience 

    Conference presentations (posters and oral) 

    Things I'm Worried About: 

    I have a middle author publication in a low- to mid-tier journal. I have a completed draft of my undergrad thesis work for publication that has been sitting on my former advisor's desk for a WHOLE YEAR. I am currently finishing a manuscript to submit soon. It will be submitted before applications are due, and we are going to try for a reach-journal at first. Good thing about that is if they hate it, it will be rejected super quickly, so I could even resubmit before applications are due. 

    The publications is kind of minor concern. I think overall, I am not going to get denied because I don't have a first-author publication unless someone else has a first-author publication in Nature. I guess my concern is my school list because given the schools that I am applying to the other applicants may very well be published in Nature. I cannot decide whether I should add in some less competitive schools. I have had Skype or in-person meetings with all but two of the PIs on my list. They seemed very interested in me and there was a terrific fit with many of the programs. I am afraid that in the end, I just might not cut it. 

    If anyone wanted to weigh in, I would love your feedback. 

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